Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke is an independent city in Virginia. The population of the city is 97,032, making it the largest municipality in Southwest Virginia. It is the commercial hub of much the region, and portions of Southern West Virginia. Major roads Interstate 581 US Route 11 US Route 11 Alternate US Route 220 US Route 220 Business US Route 221 US Route 460 Virginia State Route 24 Virginia State Route 101 Virginia State Route 115 Virginia State Route 116 Virginia State Route 117 Virginia State Route 419 Geography Adjacent counties Roanoke County (east, north and south) City of Salem (west) Demographics As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the racial composition of the city is: 60.64% White (58,840) 29.34% Black or African American (28,469) 5.88% Hispanic or Latino (5,705) 4.14% Other (4,018) 18.8% (18,242) of Roanoke residents live below the poverty line. Theft rate statistics Roanoke has above average rates of Pokemon theft and murder. The city reported 59 Pokemon thefts in 2019, and averages 3.45 murders a year. Fun facts * The area is served by Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport. * Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and Research Institute, Virginia Western Community College and Western Virginia Battle Academy are located in Roanoke. * Local TV stations serving Roanoke include WDBJ 7 (CBS), WSLS-TV 10 (NBC), W05AA-D 13 (ABC), WBRA-TV 15 (PBS), WFXR 27 (FOX), WWCW 27.2 (The CW) and WPXR-TV 38 (Ion). * Roanoke has a train station served by Amtrak's Northeast Regional. * The Norfolk & Western was famous for manufacturing steam locomotives in-house. It was N&W's Roanoke Shops that made the company known industry-wide for its excellence in steam power. The Roanoke Shops, with its workforce of thousands, is where the famed classes A, J, and Y6 locomotives were designed, built, and maintained. New steam locomotives were built there until 1953, long after diesel-electric had emerged as the motive power of choice for most North American railroads. About 1960, N&W was the last major railroad in the United States to convert from steam to diesel power. * Politically, Roanoke has become strongly Democrat-voting in most elections. * Roanoke's rates of economic and population growth have been less than the state and national averages since the 1960s. The immediate Roanoke area has a low unemployment rate, but a brain drain of workers unable to find satisfactory employment and underemployment are sometimes cited as explanations. However, Roanoke's economy has areas of strength. The city is the health care and retail hub of a large area, driving the expansion of Carilion Health System and Valley View Mall. Advance Auto Parts is headquartered in Roanoke and has expanded through the acquisition of other chains to become one of the largest auto parts retailers in the country. Norfolk Southern remains a major employer. FreightCar America hired several hundred persons to assemble rail cars in shops leased from Norfolk Southern and has closed a plant in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in part because of the lower costs for the Roanoke facility. Recently though, the company laid off its Roanoke employees and said it plans to temporarily close the plant. The corporate offices of Virginia Transformer Corporation and utility company RGC Resources are situated in this city. General Electric and TMEIC manufacture large drive systems for electrical generation stations and factories at their joint facility in Salem. ITT manufactures night vision goggles at its plant in Roanoke County, and some of its employees have started other firms such as Optical Cable Corporation. The proximity of automotive assembly plants in the South has attracted manufacturers including Dynax, Koyo, Metalsa and Yokohama, formerly Mohawk Tire. Roanoke's location allows for delivery within one day to most markets in the southeast, northeast, mid-atlantic, and Ohio Valley, which has made it a distribution center for such companies as Orvis, Elizabeth Arden, and Hanover Direct. United Parcel Service (UPS) maintains a major facility at the Roanoke Regional Airport. While the city of Roanoke has lost population, suburbs in Roanoke County, southern Botetourt County, and areas of Bedford County and Franklin County near Smith Mountain Lake have grown. * The Virginia Museum of Transportation houses many locomotives that were built in Roanoke, including the Norfolk and Western J class#611 and Norfolk & Western 1218 steam engines, and other locomotives and rolling stock. The museum also houses exhibits covering aviation, automobiles and buses. * Roanoke has a professional hockey team - the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs of the Southern Professional Hockey League. Category:Virginia Independent Cities